Signing Up with GoDaddy — What We Found
GoDaddy shouldn’t need much of an introduction. It’s a popular global brand with a huge marketing presence. Unlike some of the other brands we’ve tested, GoDaddy isn’t a local New Zealand-operated web hosting company.
For this test we’ve signed up for GoDaddy’s Basic shared hosting plan to see what you actually get at their entry tier, recorded the signup flow, and ran our standard WordPress benchmarks.
The GoDaddy signup story
Off the bat it’s worth mentioning that GoDaddy’s signup process goes heavy on upsells. You can expect prompts for buying extra domains, email add-ons, and site builders before you even reach the hosting dashboard.
After choosing the Basic hosting plan, GoDaddy gave us the option of creating a new WordPress site or importing an existing one. We chose to create a blank site.
Once we were set up with WordPress we ran PHP Vitals (E in 23.86s) and WP Benchmark (scored 5.4 / 10) tests.
We had a choice of a few server locations, but none were close to New Zealand — the closest option was Arizona, USA. However, our check showed the reference IP resolving through Cloudflare (AS209242), so the location is only partially verified.
North American servers are amongst the furthest from NZ of all the other international hosts options. Expect a noticeable latency difference for NZ visitors versus locally hosted sites.
After choosing a server location and installing WordPress, GoDaddy navigated us to their AI website creation tool. We again had the option to start with a blank site, or with a template. Again we chose to start with a blank site.
Like Hostinger, a temporary domain is available while setting up WordPress, which helps if you want to benchmark before the DNS propagation finishes.
Control panel
Plan features: GoDaddy Basic
Last updated 27 August, 2026
Overview
| Price | $32.98/mo NZD ex-GST · renewal rate |
|---|---|
| Storage | 10GB |
| PHP | 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 |
| Staging | Yes |
| Minimum term | 1 month |
| Support | email, tickets |
| Server | United States, Europe (160.153.0.148, AS209242 Cloudflare) |
| Trustpilot | 4.4 out of 54.4 |
Includes AI Builder. Includes a temporary domain for tests.
GoDaddy charges in USD, meaning your bill will vary with NZD exchange rate changes.
Benchmark results ?
| Test | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|
| PHP Vitals | E (23.86s) | 2026-08-27 |
| WP Benchmark | 5.4 / 10 | 2026-08-27 |
GoDaddy landed near the bottom: WP Benchmark 5.4 / 10 (only slightly above Hoopla’s 4.7) and PHP Vitals E. That’s not what you’d expect from one of the most expensive options in our table.
What you can expect with GoDaddy
Good fit if you want
- A household brand name
- Staging and AI-assisted site building on Basic
- Month-to-month billing despite the higher price
Watch out for
- Highest price in our table
- Weak PHP Vitals (E) and near-bottom WP Benchmark
- US/Europe hosting — not NZ-local
- Opaque origin routing via Cloudflare
- Heavy upsells during signup
Location and Backups
Try GoDaddy
Sign up for their Basic shared plan on their site.